Advertisement

Honey Bee or Hornets?

The first pic looks like a few bees at the slot entry. The other stuff is a mystery to me. A bee hive at this time of year probably has about 20,000 to 50,000 workers. The hive itself for a mature colony could be in a wall and take about 8'x8'. If the hive goes into the rafters instead of the exterior wall, it is a mystery.

Honey bees in the ceiling is a serious problem. They are very difficult to remove, and the honey will ooze down through drywall once the bees are gone.

I suggest that you call a bee keeper, not an exterminator. As an exterminator, if I had to remove bees in your structure, it would cost hundreds depending on circumstances.

Honey Bee or Hornets?

An adult honeybee has a black body with an orange side to side stripe on the abdomen (third section), also it has brownish hair. The honey is stored in wax honeycombs with cylindrical (actually hexagonal) cells.

An adult yellowjacket is black and hairless but with a lot of yellow on the abdomen and some yellow on the head and legs.

Hornet refers to several wasp species; most adults are mainly black and hairless, sometimes with thin yellow or white side to side stripes. Most make paper nests with hexagonal cells to hold their young.

The young (larvae) are grub-like or maggot-like and whitish.

Modern beehives have a grid in the middle that confines the (larger, egg laying) queen to the lower section so the honey that is harvested from the upper sections is not commingled (or contaminated) with the young.

Even a small hornet's nest can have a dozen or so hornets flying around it at times. It only takes a few weeks for a new brood of adults to grow so if you want to exterminate them only by spraying or swatting the ones outside, you need to be consciencious and attend to it several times a day.

__________________(One morning on WRKO Radio) The tub's not clean! Let's remodel the bathroom.
(One afternoon on WRKO Radio) It's time for an oil change. I'm going to trade in the car for next year's model.

Honey Bee or Hornets?

Good views here, I agree and think your invaders are honey bees and an area beekeeper might come to capture them (ask your county Cooperative Extension Agent). However that person likely won't want to be messing with your structure, ripping off sheathing etc. Maybe the nest is a foot up the wall.

If you simply spray to kill the bees you may have a lot of combs (wax and honey) which could attract mice, moths, etc. or decay and smell. Or it coud be a tiny young nest of no consequence. The beekeeper could tell.

As far as insect sprays go on yellow jacket nests, I find those wasp killer shot sprays are very toxic and a single spray of two seconds at the nest (paper type or entrance hole in ground) is adequate. Best to use all poisons sparingly.

Here (Penna.) we often find a longer brown wasp making paper nests. They'll sting if you bother them close but they are not as aggressive as yellow jackets. I just leave them be unless if in the worst site.